Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) recently hosted its override election, seeking a budget increase in order to gain more funding for its schools. It officially passed on Friday, November 7th, with a narrow lead of 51% of voter support.
The same override vote had failed in 2023 because it was all mail-in, and only 9% of parents and 30% of staff participated. Last year, it also came up short due to it being a presidential election year, which caused even more chaos when voting.
“Last year I had to cut $11 million just from the override. We’re always behind. I had to cut about 50 positions to make up that difference,” said Dr. Curtis Finch, superintendent.
If the override had failed to pass again this year, the district would have had to cut another $11 million.
“If these fail to pass, you’re going to end up seeing teacher pay (which is already notoriously low) go down. People are going to lose their jobs. Fees for student activities, like sports, are going to go up. The quality of the equipment we have to work with is going to go down,” said Richard Weyker, Government and Economics teacher.
While it seems extreme, Arizona unfortunately already fails to provide its public schools with much funding in the first place, ranking 50th in the nation for financial support towards public schools.
“The state’s participation is super weak; we’re the bottom of the barrel in the nation. We have to find ways to give opportunities for our students, and we need to ask our communities, ‘Do you guys want to help or not?’” Finch said.
Luckily, thanks to the voters in the recent election, DVUSD no longer has to live in fear about what will happen in the years to come.
“The first thing I will say is thank you, I am very much appreciative of the override passing, because there would have been negative effects on our students and our teachers,” said Dr. Lynn Miller, principal.
While it seems to most students and staff as an obvious ‘yes’ to expanding the budget, there are some voters who disagree. Many argue that they do not want higher taxes and wish to pay less.
“I just think we have lost sight about our responsibilities to our community in this culture. We have become so hyper-individualistic and so self-absorbed in feelings about our own success that we oftentimes forget that we’re part of the community, and that we have responsibilities to each other that transcend all our selfish desires,” Weyker said.
While it may be annoying to pay the extra tax now, voters will see it pay off in the future.
“You’re not helping the system by cutting the budget. If you have a problem with how the money is being spent, go to the school board meetings. Voice your concerns. Vote new school board members in. That is the solution to this problem, not getting rid of the budget itself,” Weyker said.
The district finally being able to gain access to this money is vital, with it now having extra support for its programs.
“The override supports 8% of our staff’s salaries, it supports students’ interventions: counselors, social workers, psychologists, fees to play in band or sports,” Finch said.
In terms of the impact of this override at OHS, it will hopefully help the school maintain its current state.
“At this point, the override passing will ‘stop the bleeding … I don’t know exactly what was going to be cut, but I do know that it will stop all those things,” Miller said.
DVUSD will also have an election looking for support for a bond to pass, which would create funding for things such as better school buildings and technology.
“You have bonds, which are for buildings, and overrides, which are for people,”. Finch said.
Overall, the OHS as well as DVUSD have a lot to celebrate thanks to the override passing, and can only hope for more good luck when it comes to the bond.
“Thank you and keep believing in our students and our staff because there are some very good things that are happening that couldn’t happen if we didn’t have the support of the voters and the people who helped make this happen,” Miller said.
